A quarterly, independently-scored benchmark of how 26 UK media brands reach and engage 18–34 audiences — across their websites and their social distribution.
DJB Strategies, the boutique strategy consultancy focused on helping media businesses navigate change, today announces the launch of the Emerging Audience Index — a quarterly benchmark measuring how effectively the UK's leading media brands reach and retain audiences aged 18–34.
The first edition, covering the second quarter of 2026, scores 26 UK media brands — newspapers, broadcasters, magazines and digital-native publishers — against a single, consistent methodology. Each brand is assessed on three equally weighted pillars: the proportion of its website audience aged 18–34; how those younger visitors engage once on site relative to older ones; and the size, breadth and engagement of its own social distribution. All data is independently sourced, drawing on Similarweb audience data and each brand's public social accounts. Nothing is self-reported.
The Q2 edition finds Sky Sports, LADbible and the BBC leading the Index, each pairing a genuinely young audience with on-site engagement that holds it. TechRadar draws the youngest website audience in the panel, with 41.2% of visitors aged 18–34. The findings also reveal a stark retention divide: at the top six publishers, younger visitors' sessions are just 2.5% shorter than older visitors', while at the bottom six they are 38.5% shorter — making the ability to hold younger visitors on site the clearest separator between the leaders and the rest.
The Index will be recalculated and republished each quarter, with new brands and platforms added over time. The full rankings, methodology and interactive analysis are available at The Emerging Audience Index.
"Every media business recognises the challenge of attracting and retaining younger audiences, few know the scale of the problem or have an objective way of measuring it. The Emerging Audience Index puts a consistent, independent number on it. The early findings challenge some comfortable assumptions: a big social operation is no guarantee of a young website audience, and some of the strongest performers are brands the industry rarely looks to for lessons."
Harry Clarkson-Bennett, Partner, DJB StrategiesDJB Strategies is a boutique consultancy created to help companies in media, information services — and adjacent sectors — respond to change, succeed and grow. The approach is to integrate robust analysis with practical execution. We offer:
DJB Strategies was founded by David Buttle. Prior to founding his business, David was Director of Public Affairs and Platform Strategy for the Financial Times, responsible for the FT's interfaces with big tech, relationships with governments and legislators, and the business's response to artificial intelligence, including licensing negotiations. David holds an MBA from Warwick Business School, is a columnist for Press Gazette on media and technology, and serves on the board of the Independent Publishers Alliance.